Jalan-Jalan @ Copenhagen

Hari ni kami ronda-ronda di sekeliling bandar Copenhagen. Sejak semalam sehingga esok di Copenhagen ada satu event iaitu Copenhagen Carnival yang dianjurkan pada setiap tahun dan ini merupakan kali pertama kami ke karnival ni. Antara aktiviti yang dijalankan sempena karnival ini adalah perarakan, pertunjukkan, persembahan dan sebagainya. Tapi kebanyakannya adalah tarian Samba hehe, sesuai untuk sesiapa yang nak 'cuci mata' atau 'cuci lense kamera'. Walau bagaimanapun, kami sampai agak lambat tadi, jadi perarakan dan persembahan pun semua dah habis huhu.

Tapi sememangnya hajat utama kami ke bandar ini adalah untuk membeli barang-barang keperluan dapur. Jadi bak kata pepatah sambil menyelam minum air. Maka kami pun ronda-rondalah sekali sempena karnival yang dianjurkan ni. Antara tempat yang kami kunjungi di bandar ni adalah Nyhavn, Kongens Nytorv dan juga Stroget. Sepanjang perjalanan ada juga kami berjumpa dan bertegur sapa dengan orang-orang Malaysia dan Indonesia yang datang ke sini untuk melancong. Ada juga orang minat melancong ke Denmark ni ye hehe. Apapun suhu di Denmark dah semakin meningkat ke 19 darjah Celsius hari ni, bulan depan dah musim panas pula rasanya di sini.

Call For Papers: PPEPPD 2010 Conference

General Information

Conference: 12 th International Conference on Properties and Phase Equilibria for Product and Process Design (PPEPPD 2010)
Date: 16 - 21 May 2009
Venue: Suzhou, Jiangsu, China

Scope of Conference

The conference endeavors to provide an effective forum for academic and industrial researchers to meet and communicate on the status and future trends in properties and phase equilibria important to the design of products or processes. Multi-scale simulation, interface confined behaviors are continuous basic issues. Nonequilibrium thermodynamics (including reaction, transportation) plays important role. Thermodynamics is still the main source of inspiration. Manipulating biomolecules, design and development of pharmaceuticals, nanoengineering and nanotechnology, foundations of equilibrium thermodynamics, innovation in product design and development will still be included in themes. The focus is on products and processes related not only to the traditional oil, gas and chemical industries, but also to the pharmaceutical, food, plastics, textile and cement industries. Moreover, biotechnology, energy, environmental and sustainable development technologies are important topics of the conference.

Important Dates

• February 28, 2009: Call for Paper
• August 30, 2009: Deadline for Abstract Submission
• November 30, 2009: Confirmation of Acceptance
• December 1, 2009: Online Registration of Conference
• December 1, 2009: Opening for Full paper Submission
• April 30, 2010: Deadline for Full paper Submission
• April 30, 2010: Closure of Online Registration
• May 16, 2010: Conference Starts

Themes

• Quantum Computation and Force Fields
• Surfaces, Interfaces and Confinement Effects
• Molecular Simulation and Multiscale Simulation
• Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
• Phase Equilibria (Theory and Experiments)
• Materials (Metals, inorganic solids, polymers and liquid crystals)
• Biological and Pharmaceutical Systems
• Energy, Environment and Sustainability
• Product and Process Engineering

For further information, please visit: htttp://www.ppeppd2010.cn

Note: To all academicians and others related. If you are doing research in these areas, come on and join this conference. I hope to join this conference, provided if I manage to get the results needed on time. This conference is organised once in 3 years. Good manuscripts will be considered to be published in the Fluid Phase Equilibria Journal.

A Nice Day During Spring..

Hi, its me again. Last post I've talked about how hectic I am studying and researching. Well, its not that hectic, its just tiring to go the university even on weekends, thats all. But you know what? Last Saturday we have a nice afternoon having picnic by the beach, sight seeing and taking pictures.

That Saturday morning around 11.30 a.m, I planned to go to the university to settle some works. But suddenly my phone rang and it was Fauzi a.k.a Poji inviting me to go for a picnic and he ask me to meet him at around 2.00 p.m. Well it was very hard to let down the offer but I had to settle my work first. Finally, around 4.30 p.m I decide to call it a day as I feel that I've settled an amount of work. Then me and my wife (wawa a.k.a schewa rosche), went to buy some ice-creams and off we go to Klampenborg where they are having the picnic. When we arrived there, I said wow, what a nice scenery!. Thats my first time coming to that place. We had a very nice picnic and its fun to gather with friends here in Denmark. Other than Poji's family, there was Isrin's family, Din's family (termasuk Ala dan Ciput hehe) and Joshua's family.

As I said before last weekend was a spring break for most of us and some of us have rented cars so that it is easier to travel from one place to another. Lucky for us, we get to hop on Poji's rented car after the picnic.

After the picnic, we decide to go to Amager Strandpark for sight seeing and capturing some 'memories'. Amager Strand is Copenhagen’s only bathing beach. It serves a densely populated area and is extremely popular in the summer. But at the time we came, there are not many people there.

Then, we went near the Copenhagen Opera House (in Danish usually called Operaen). It is the national opera house of Denmark, and among the most modern opera houses in the world. It is also one of the most expensive opera houses ever built with construction costs well over 500 million U.S. dollars. It is located on the island of Holmen in the center of Copenhagen. The scenery there is very nice plus it is during sunset.

As conclusion, what a nice spring break! Even for half a day, low cost, yet a lot of precious memories..

Study..Study..Research..Research..And ?

Hmm minggu lepas agak penatlah juga study dan menjalankan penyelidikan berkaitan PhD ni. Kalau ikutkan di Denmark ni cuti hari Khamis lepas. Jadi ramailah yang mengambil peluang untuk bercuti sebab hari Jumaat tu boleh minta cuti + hujung minggu pula. Akan tetapi pada hari Khamis, Sabtu dan Ahad tu jugalah saya pergi ke universiti untuk menyelesaikan kerja-kerja sebelum nak jumpa penyelia pada hari Isnin (25 Mei 2009). Tapi ada juga pelajar-pelajar PhD yang lain yang juga bertungkus-lumus membuat kerja termasuk roomate saya pada waktu cuti ni.

Saya lebih suka buat kerja di sana kerana banyak menggunakan komputer (programming) dan malas nak transfer file yang berkenaan + komputer yang lebih laju untuk run program berbanding laptop yang dipenuhi dengan pelbagai perisian ni. Walaupun penat, saya rasa puas kerana dapat menyelesaikan apa yang sepatutnya. Tapi mungkin disebabkan kadang-kadang terasa macam ada membuang masa juga, sebab tu sampai waktu cuti + hujung minggu pun kena buat kerja. Mungkinlah hehe. Tapi ni saya dah buat jadual waktu harian ni harap-harap bolehlah ikut dengan berdisiplin.

Apapun, saya mendapat nasihat-nasihat yang menarik mengenai pengalaman cuti belajar ni. Selain untuk memperolehi ilmu dan melatih diri untuk menjalankan penyelidikan, kita mesti mengambil peluang berada di luar negara ni untuk mengenali budaya masyarakat luar, bergaul dengan masyarakat setempat atau pelajar-pelajar daripada negara yang lain, melihat tempat orang dll agar kita dapat membawa pulang satu pengalaman yang menarik yang dapat menjadikan kita lebih matang selain tidak melupakan matlamat utama berada di sini.

Rapeseed @ Virum

Sehari selepas housewarming di apartment kami, Dayang pula mengadakan jamuan di rumahnya di Virum sempena kepulangannya sementara ke negara tercinta. Dalam perjalanan menaiki bas daripada apartment kami di Lyngby ke Virum, ada sebuah 'sawah' rapeseed. Sebenarnya dah lama kami perhatikan 'sawah' rapeseed yang indah tu, jadi kami mengambil peluang untuk singgah dan bergambar di situ sebentar sebelum ke destinasi yang dituju. Dah lama saya dengar mengenai rapeseed ni, kira ni baru dapat peluang untuk lihatnya secara live. Sumber utama yang boleh diperolehi daripadanya adalah minyak seperti penghasilan minyak masak dan juga biodiesel. Untuk maklumat lanjut mengenai rapeseed ni, boleh klik di sini.

Housewarming @ Lyngby Torv 2

Alhamdulillah pada hari Sabtu lepas, 16 Mei 2009 saya dan isteri telah mengadakan housewarming di apartment kami di Lyngby Torv 2. Para tetamu mula datang pada jam 2.30 petang dan bacaan Yaasin dan doa selamat telah diadakan pada lebih kurang jam 4.00 petang. Housewarming ini adalah sempena ketibaan kami di Denmark dan semoga segalanya berjalan dengan lancar sepanjang kami berada di sini dari segi kesihatan, keselamatan dan juga kejayaan kepada saya agar InsyaAllah dapat membawa pulang segulung ijazah.

Walaupun cuaca hujan di luar, kepada yang telah sudi datang iaitu kepada Nizam sekeluarga, Kamaruddin sekeluarga, Fauzi sekeluarga, Abdillah sekeluarga, Ciput, Isrin, Dayang, Alafiza, Pak Herman dan Kak Siti, jutaan terima kasih diucapkan. Terima kasih juga kepada semua yang telah memberi hadiah (dulang kristal dan bunga orkid) dan juga yang telah membawa hidangan-hidangan tambahan (kek, ayam goreng, kek pisang, kari masak hati dan petai, agar-agar, kuih seri muka dll.) semasa housewarming tersebut. Segala kekurangan harap dimaafkan ye.

Antara hidangan yang disediakan oleh tuan rumah adalah nasi, sambal tumis udang masak petai, dalca daging, spagetti, ikan bakar, bergedil, strawberi bersalut coklat, buah anggur, goreng pisang dan lain-lain. Semua tetamu telah berangkat pulang pada lebih kurang jam 6.45 petang. Nanti bila-bila lalu sini singgahlah ye, jangan malu-malu pulak..

About My Research..

In this post I would like to talk about my PhD research. My research project mainly concerns on developing a chemical property prediction model (which has been initially developed by my supervisor and his team and I'm continuing Hugo's work), some analysis of its performance and finally the application of this model in selected industrial case study in Malaysia, which hopefully I can finish within 3 years. In order to work with the project, I need to understand about chemical engineering thermodynamics, parameter optimization, computer aided modeling, programming etc. This project involves no experimental work, however I need to use available experimental data from literature.

It is quite challenging for me initially as I need to learn about programming which I'm not really good at it (meaning I've never write a program before except when I learnt C Programming when I'm an undergraduate, which was 6 years ago). For this project, I'm continuing Hugo's work. To ensure smooth takeover of his project, he has spent I week to explain the work that he has done to me and taught me about how to run the programming codes. I really appreciate that man!. But you know what? Suprisingly, the codes have 30 000 lines !!. This is because it was handed from one researcher to another and I can see a file (in the folders in the CD) which was created on 1980! (even the file is older than me). However it is an honour to continue the work of past researchers haha.

For this project I'm using Fortran programming codes and currently I'm doing self learning the see whether I've really understand how to run the codes and continue to develop the model. Wish me luck ok !!.

Makan..Makan..Makan..

Makan..Makan..Makan..Alhamdulillah..Mulanya kami datang sini ingatkan dah tak makan nasi dah, tapi sangkaan kami meleset. Memang di sini tiada masalah untuk mendapatkan bekalan beras. Tambahan pula di Copenhagen tu ada kedai Siam, kedai Arab, kedai China dan lain-lain yang banyak jual keperluan seperti di Malaysia. Barang makanan seperti daging, beras, sotong, sayur kangkung, serai, petai, rebung, sosej dan lain-lain ada dijual di sini. Durian pun ada. Jadi siapa di sini yang rindukan tempoyak ke, bubur kacang durian tiada masalah.

Ais Krim Vanilla + Strawberi + Biskut Chocolate Chip

Berada di perantauan ni kata orang kita akan pandai memasak. Kalau di Malaysia tu biasanya kalau rasa nak makan apa-apa pergi je beli di kedai atau makan di restoran. Tapi di sini kena la buat sendiri di sebabkan harganya yang agak mahal dan juga mungkin tidak diketahui status kehalalannya. Lagipun kalau teringin nak makan makanan-makanan seperti di Malaysia tu seperti Nasi Kerabu ke Nasi Dagang ke, kuih Seri Muka ke, di sini sudah semestinya susah nak jumpa. Jadi, buat sendiri laa !.

Ni adela beberapa gambar hasil masakan orang rumah saya. Menyelerakan...

Ayam Bakar + Mashed Potato

Nasi Lemak + Sambal Sotong

Bihun Sup Utara Lyngby

Nasi Goreng Seafood

Nota: Ingat datang sini nak kuruskan sikit badan ni, tapi tak tau la..

Man Utd Celebrate Premier League Title Win

Manchester United were crowned champions of England for a record-equalling 18th time at Old Trafford after a goalless draw with Arsenal ensured Liverpool cannot now catch their north-west rivals. Sir Alex Ferguson's side might not have given Usain Bolt a goal to celebrate on his first visit to the Theatre of Dreams but the Premier League trophy will do as consolation. After over three decades as the unquestioned kings of English football, the Merseysiders now have someone else to share the title with. And, if Ferguson is to be believed it will not be long before the Anfield outfit lose it altogether. While the first half ended with United still on course for the 11th league title of Ferguson's illustrious reign, Arsenal had every reason to be pleased with themselves.

After two dire displays that surrendered their Champions League semi-final with the Red Devils, plus a hammering on home soil by Chelsea, it was feared the Gunners would suffer yet another embarrassing mauling. It surely could not be a coincidence that Andrey Arshavin's return from a combination of being cup-tied and contracting a flu bug coincided with Arsenal's return to form. As Gunners fans search for reasons to be cheerful ahead of what will be another trophyless summer, the Russian playmaker is the main one. Arshavin went on one mazy dribble from the left flank that would have opened United up totally had Jonny Evans not raced across to clear.The former Zenit St Petersburg star was also the provider of a cross lone striker Robin van Persie might easily have steered into the net, rather than just over. However, the world's fastest man did not come to Old Trafford to watch Arsenal.

The hosts certainly started as if they meant business with Darren Fletcher almost sending Cristiano Ronaldo through inside the opening minute. Yet, as time wore on, it seemed Ferguson's side were adopting a pragmatic approach to the situation, ensuring their goal was tight and secure, pushing forward in numbers only when really necessary. The energy of Carlos Tevez helped in that regard. Sometimes it seems the South American is doing the work of two men. And, as the speculation over Tevez's future rumbles on, there is little doubt most United fans would want him signed permanently if at all possible. It seems highly improbable though. And when he responded to his number 32 being flashed up as the man to be replaced by Park Ji-sung, the response, a little shake of the head and a two-handed wave to all four corners of the stadium, looked for all the world like a goodbye. There has, of course, never been any discussion over Wayne Rooney. Had voting for the various player of the year awards been based on the last two or three months' form alone, Rooney would have been top of the pile. The England striker has added an extra level of consistency to his game that truly deserves him now to be ranked if not at the very top of the game, then only just underneath. Rooney stole in behind Bacary Sagna to head a teasing Michael Carrick cross wide after earlier having an effort deflected away by Kolo Toure.

On the brink of his 11th championship, Ryan Giggs curled a free-kick over and was then off target with a volley. Ronaldo had an even better opportunity at the start of the second period after Tevez had failed to manage a shot after Carrick had supplied the cross, but did enough to nudge it into the Portugal superstar's path. After offering his own sprinting guidance yesterday, Bolt must have thought Ronaldo would offer a fitting payment. Instead, he leant back and skied his shot into the Stretford End. In fairness, Bolt had chosen to come and watch his team on a rare day that they did not need to win. For all the side issues surrounding Park's arrival, it suggested even less of an emphasis on attack, although Ronaldo did send one his trademark free-kicks whipping wide. It marked the end of United's attacking intent. Fabregas and Van Persie had one last shot at spoiling the party. But with the trophy ready and the tickets sorted, it seemed a shame to stop it.

Source: soccernet.espn.go.com

Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT UTM)

Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT) is a centre of excellence within the Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. PROSPECT specialises in aspects of planning, design and creation of sustainable and innovative process and product supply chain as well as optimal and efficient operation of process systems. More than 15 years experience in Process Systems Engineering (PSE) R & D, software product development, consultancy services and training has positioned PROSPECT as one of the leading PSE centres of excellence in the region that specializes in process and product design and development with emphasis on conservation of natural resources; in particular, materials, energy and water.

In meeting the modern-day process engineering challenges marked by volatile energy prices and rising concern on climate change, PROSPECT strives to “engineer sustainability” by providing comprehensive and innovative solution through R & D, consultancy services and training. PROSPECT’s ultimate aim is process intensification, i.e. the creation of cleaner, safer, energy-efficient, cost-effective and sustainable process systems. PROSPECT’s tagline, “Engineering Sustainability” reflects its core philosophy and expertise in the creation and engineering of sustainable product and process systems.

PROSPECT strives to engineer sustainability in its core business of designing and developing creative and innovative process and product supply chain that are inherently cleaner, safer, energy-efficient, cost-effective and sustainable

“Intensification of process design and improvement of processes towards inherently cleaner, safer, energy-efficient, cost-effective and sustainable process systems"

To date, PROSPECT has successfully completed more than 40 research and consultancy projects in systems engineering, particularly those related to energy and utility conservation as well as renewable energy systems for various industrial sectors including palm oil and oleochemicals, agriculture (e.g. rice), refinery and petrochemicals, bio-processes, fine chemicals, semi-conductor, pulp and paper, food and drinks, cement industry as well as for buildings. Most of the accomplished R & D works have resulted in software product solutions, publications in premiere international journals, presentation in conferences, prestigious awards and product patents.

PROSPECT is recognized as one of the region’s leading trainer in energy, water and resource conservation. Among its signature training workshops are “Maximising Energy and Utility Cost Savings in Process Industry Using Pinch Analysis” and “A Holistic Approach for Energy Management” which have seen the participation of up to 300 multi-national companies.

PROSPECT members are Energy Professionals and contribute as Technical Advisors for the government on energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. One of the noteworthy recognition received by PROSPECT is the appointment of one of its member by PTM and ASEAN Center for Energy (ACE) in Jakarta as the Malaysian representative in the 10-member Board of Judges for ASEAN Energy Management Competition coordinated by ACE and supported by Energy Conservation Center of Japan (ECCJ).

PROSPECT’s main in-house copyrighted and patented software products include Optimal Audit software which is a 3-in-1 software solution for energy, wastewater and emission audits; Optimal-Heat and Optimal-Water which are software for maximizing energy and water cost savings that implement thermal and water pinch techniques. Optimal-Audit software aims to cater for energy managers and is developed in co-operation with Malaysia Energy Centre to assist companies to conduct in-house DIY (do-it-yourself) energy audit.

For more information please visit PROSPECT's website: www.fkkksa.utm.my/prospect

Info: I'm a member of PROSPECT.

Around Copenhagen..

On the 18th of April 2009, me and my wife and the other Malaysian DTU colleagues went to Copenhagen for a picnic at Langelinie Park. This is in conjunction with the Sakura Festival which was organised by the Japan Embassy here in Denmark and the Municipality of Copenhagen. There are a lot of Sakura trees planted here in Langelinie Park and it was donated by the Japenese. In Japan people love and admire Sakura blossom and almost everybody go out to enjoy its beauty together with families, friends, office-mates and so forth wherever and whenever Sakura bloom. In this festival, the Japanese were invited to perform cultural acts and the local people are invited to participate. There are also stall which sells Japanese food and souvenir. Hopefully, some day there will be a Malaysia Festival here.

It was a great day with good weather and beautiful Sakura trees. There for the first time me and my wife met Abdillah, Azlin and their two sons Azizi and Kebi. They both are studying PhD in Roskilde University. We also met Akma with her husband and son. She is studying PhD in Copenhagen University. It’s good to meet many Malaysians here in Denmark. We had Nasi Lemak and Roti Jala, delicious!! Thanks guys, I only brought potato chips and ice tea hehe. There’s a lot of Danes and other foreigners having picnic around this festival, they are very enjoying the event.


Me and my wife then went for a stroll around the park in trying to search for the famous Little Mermaid statue. The statue is very famous here in Denmark and can be considered as one of the main tourist attraction. But don’t be dissapointed if you are coming here to see the statue because it is just a small statue. That’s why they call it LITTLE Mermaid. Daa!. Next year, they will move the statue to China for an exhibition. Lucky me, I have been there to see it and capture some nice pictures of ‘us’ hehe.

After the picnic, on our way back to the train station we met 2 Malaysians. They were very estatic to see us. “Malaysia Boleh” they said. These 2 guys are on tour in Europe to promote Sepak Takraw to the Europeans. Next stop is Berlin and Amsterdam. I’m proud of them. One of them said that he have played Sepak Takraw for the national team some time ago. They feel very happy to meet us here in Copenhagen. Well, you will appreciate Malaysian more when you meet them in foreign countries (especially with less Malaysian) as if you know them for a long time. I remember one Malaysian who greets me by waving his hand to me with smile in Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam even though I do not know him. One thing, you will feel like home when you meet and talk to them here. Any Malaysians coming to Denmark?. Please contact us haha.

Kenangan Cuti Easter..

Pada cuti Easter yang lepas (9-13 April 2009), saya dan Wawa (isteriku) bersama beberapa kawan yang lain iaitu Kamaruddin (Din), Kak Zana, Afiq, Ciput dan juga Dayang telah bercuti ke Amsterdam, Belanda. Dulu dah sampai Amsterdam, tapi dapat berlegar di sekitar lapangan terbang je. Kami mengambil keputusan untuk ke sana dengan menyewa kenderaan memandangkan kosnya yang lebih murah jika dibandingkan dengan menaiki kapal terbang. Jadi dengan kenderaan Volkswagen Transporter yang disewa daripada Hertz tu, kami bertolak daripada Lyngby pada pukul 7 pagi, hari Khamis (9 April 2009). Untuk memandu kenderaan di negara orang ni kena ada lesen memandu antarabangsa yang ditempah di Malaysia dengan kos RM 150 setahun. Cadangan asal ialah untuk bertukar-tukar pemandu antara saya, Dayang dan juga Din nmemandangkan hanya kami bertiga yang mempunyai lesen memandun antarabangsa. Tapi memandangkan saiz van yang agak besar, mungkin saya dan Din je yang akan memandu. Tiba-tiba dalam perjalanan, “eh, aku macam tertinggal je lesen memandu tu, aduhhh !!!”. Rupa-rupanya saya terlupa bawa. Nampaknya Din jela yang kena jadi driver.

laparnya.. (somewhere in Germany)

Dalam perjalanan, kami melalui jambatan yang menghubungkan antara Zealand (bahagian pulau) dan Jutland di Denmark. Ada jalan yang lagi dekat ke Jerman dengan menaiki feri, namun disebabkan harganya yang mahal kami mengambil keputusan untuk melalui jambatan sahaja. Daripada Denmark kami meneruskan perjalanan ke Jerman melalui Hamburg dan Bremen. Kami singgah untuk makan tengahari di Jerman (tak pasti di kawasan mana). Sepanjang perjalanan di Jerman, saya asyik tidur jela sebab tak boleh nak memandu (bukan sengaja, terlupa huhu). Teringin juga nak memandu di negara orang, tambahan pula kedudukannya di sebelah kanan jalan berbeza dengan sistem jalan di Malaysia. Yela dah bayar RM 150 setahun, takkan nak biarkan je. Daripada Jerman, kami tiba di Belanda dan akhirnya tiba di Amsterdam pada lebih kurang jam 7 petang. 12 jam baru sampai ke destinasi !!. Kira macam daripada Johor ke Perlis la kan. Di Amsterdam, kami menetap di Hotel Zwanenberg.

Pada hari kedua, kami telah ke Keukenhof iaitu sebuah taman bunga Tulip yang sangat cantik dan dipenuhi dengan pelabagai jenis bunga tulip. Kalau di Malaysia tu ada sawah padi, di Keukenhof ada sawah tulip !!. Kami round-round di sana dari pagi sehinggalah ke petang. Puaslah kami bergambar dalam taman tu, tambah pula dengan kamera baru (Nikon D60, dibeli seminggu sebelum bertolak ke Denmark hehe). Selain tulip, terdapat juga kincir angin ataupun windmill. Dapat jugalah merasa naik kincir angin tu. Memang saya alu-alukanlah jika sesiapa nak datang ke Keukenhof ni. Tapi ingat, datang masa musim bunga, jangan datang masa musim sejuk lak haha. Setelah puas berjalan, kami mulalah berasa lapar. Daripada Keukenhof, kami telah menjamu selera di sebuah kedai makanan Indonesia bernama Toko Java. Peramah juga pekerja kedai tu, maklumlah jumpa orang serumpun. Setelah makan Nasi Rames, kami pulang ke hotel dan berehat. Seterusnya pada waktu malam, kami telah bersiar-siar di sekitar bandar Amsterdam untuk melihat suasananya di waktu malam. Namun, di pertengahan jalan, hujan turun dengan lebatnya. Payung pula lupa nak bawa (bukan lupa, tapi tak jangka nak hujan). Tambahan pula ada di antara kami yang sesat untuk pulang ke tempat van diletakkan, dahlah malam dan hujan pula tu. Tapi Alhamdulillah, jumpa juga akhirnya. Dalam keadaan kepenatan, kami terus pulang ke hotel dan tidur.

Hari ketiga, kami berkunjung pula ke sebuah kilang kecil untuk membuat kasut kayu (popular di Belanda) dan juga kilang keju (yang busuk baunya). Terkejut dan kagum juga sebab orang yang menerangkan mengenai pembuatan kasut kayu tu pandai berbahasa Melayu. Dia tengok muka kami terus je cakap “selamat datang”, tau-tau je kami ni orang Melayu. Setelah itu, kami berkunjung ke Volendam sebuah tempat di utara Belanda yang terkenal sebagai sebuah kawasan perlancongan. Di sana terdapat pelbagai kedai cenderamata yang boleh dibeli harga yang berpatutan. Kami juga tidak melepaskan peluang menaiki cruise kecil ke pulau Marken yang terletak ½ jam daripada Volendam.

skuad volkswagen transporter

Pada hari terakhir kami di Amsterdam, kami sekali lagi bersiar-siar di sekitar bandar Amsterdam dan juga menaiki canal tour melalui sungai-sungai di sekitar bandar. Setelah itu, kami terus pulang menuju kembali ke Denmark. Dalam perjalanan pulang, kami telah singgah ke bandar Bremen dan juga Hamburg untuk mengambil gambar-gambar kenangan. Kami di tiba di Lyngby pada jam 7 pagi, Isnin 13 April 2009. Alhamdulillah semuanya selamat. Memang ini satu pengalaman yang tidak dapat dilupakan dan jika anda ada kesempatan dan duit, bolehlah datang ke sini. PhD, PhD juga, bila masa berseronok gunakan sebaik-baiknya.

Apartment kami

Seperti yang telah saya catatkan sebelum ini, kami telah berpindah ke apartment sewa kami selepas seminggu sampai di bumi Denmark. Dengan bayaran sewa sebanyak DKK7500 sebulan (kadar biasa di sini) dan melihatkan keadaan apartment kami ni boleh dikatakan berbaloi jugalah sebab tuan rumah ni baru sahaja ubahsuai apartment ni. Jadi setiap ruangan tu nampak menarik dan eksklusif (boleh tengok gambar). Tambahan pula banyak kemudahan yang ada seperti katil, peti ais, microwave, penyedut hampagas, dapur elektrik, televisyen, pemain DVD dan lain-lain.

Ruang tamu

Ruang makan

Apartment kami terletak di tingkat 4 (atas sekali, di bumbung) di sebuah bangunan yang boleh dikatakan seperti rumah kedai la di Malaysia. Tingkap bawah sekali ialah Nordea Bank (salah satu bank di sini). Yang seronok tinggal di kawasan ni ialah semua tempat seperti bank, pusat membeli belah, pejabat pos, kedai hardware, stesen bas, kedai kebab sangatlah dekat. Jadi jika ada apa-apa urusan atau nak beli apa-apa barang tu memang mudah.

Dapur

Tapi yang sedihnya kontrak untuk tinggal di apartment ni hanya sehingga bulan 12 ni sahaja. Tuan rumah ni buat masa ni sedang berkerja di Greenland dan katanya kalau dia selesa dan seronok duduk di sana dia akan lanjutkan lagi kontrak tu. Harapnya begitulah, kalau tidak kena cari apartment lain la.

Dah lama tak kemaskini blog..

Hmm nampaknya dah lama tak kemaskini blog ni. Kepada yang setia membaca blog saya atau yang baru mula nak baca tu saya mohon seribu kemaafan sebab sekarang ni agak susah nak online di apartment disebabkan ketiadaan talian internet yang tetap. Di DTU boleh la kalau nak online tapi takkan pergi sana nak kemaskini blog pula kan. Jadi buat masa sekarang ni di apartment, saya hanya pakai wireless internet yang diceduk daripada senarai wireless yang ada disekitar apartment ni (yang tak perlu katakunci). Kadang-kadang line dia bagus, kadang-kadang tak bagus jadi nak muat naik gambar atau video tu agak lambat la. Tapi saya dah daftar untuk line internet dan insyaAllah lepas ni boleh la online dengan selesa. Selain masalah ni, malas pun ada juga hehe. Di samping tu, nak touch up blog ni dulu (cari template dan widgets yang menarik dll).

Walau bagaimanapun, saya akan terus mencatatkan aktiviti-aktiviti saya di sini sepanjang tempoh dah hampir sebulan saya di sini. Jadi minta maaflah jika ada post yang boleh dikatakan dah basi hahaha. Teruskan membaca. Terima kasih.

Global Academic Network

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and its partners recently explored ways to improve their research and academic partnerships, writes SUZIEANA UDA NAGU

Zaini Ujang envisions that each partner university will fit in one of UTM's 11 research themes

11 April 2009 - INTERNATIONAL collaboration may be the buzzword in tertiary institutions globally but discussions on how universities with similar interests can work together are rare. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) vice chancellor Datuk Professor Zaini Ujang, for one, has attended numerous meetings centred on “improving university ranking or sharing best practices on university governance”. But “very seldom do university heads get to sit down and talk about how their institutions can work together,” says Zaini, a professor of Environmental Bioengineering.

Zaini recently invited some of the institution’s long-standing partners to attend a two-day University Presidents Forum For Global Academic Network at the Skudai campus to do just that. The discussion was timed to coincide with UTM’s recent convocation week. Among other things, Zaini introduced his guests from some 20 universities in 11 countries to UTM — ­its vision, mission and future direction — as he considers it vital that the university communicates its brand to partner institutions effectively. “We may have worked with each other for a long time but (they) may not be very clear about our vision. Hopefully, by experiencing the campus and getting to know its strengths first-hand, they will be more confident of our capabilities and accept us into their network,” says Zaini. Further, Zaini also sat down with university representatives — ranging from presidents, vice chancellors and rectors to heads of departments — to consider ways of improving cooperation with the participating institutions.

Internationalisation efforts in UTM began as early as 1975. The university may not have a proper mechanism for promoting global networking then but the institution solicited advice from prominent foreign academicians on matters such as curriculum development and recognition of academic programmes. Zaini concedes that the practice of establishing a relationship with a foreign university at UTM is often done on an ad hoc basis. This needs to change. The planning of international collaborative efforts has largely been the responsibility of individual professors who do so when they attend conferences abroad. They may visit a university in the country where the conference is held to discuss potential partnerships with their counterparts. Denmark Technical University’s Institute of Environment & Resources Professor Mogens Henze, for instance, has teamed up with Zaini in water management research since the last decade. Henze and Zaini have so far co-written two books together — the Municipal Wastewater Management for Developing Countries and Environmental Biotechnology: Advancement in Water and Wastewater Applications in the Tropics. The presence of “our partners on campus has finally enabled us to design a proper framework to govern the cooperation”, says Zaini, adding that the mechanism will be improved as they “go along”.

Zaini envisions that each partner university will fit in with one of UTM’s 11 research “themes” — sustainability; energy; water; biotechnology; nanotechnology; information communications; cybernetics; k-economy; transportation; materials and manufacturing; and frontier sciences. With the new framework in place, the Malaysian university will be well placed to plan future joint efforts with each foreign institution. For example, UTM will give priority to its partner universities when sending staff abroad for postgraduate studies. “We also need co-supervisors from other universities for our PhD candidates because we don’t have enough (supervisors) from UTM. We can invite professors from our partner universities to fill the gap.” In addition, some research grants require international group effort and this underlines the necessity of forming partnerships with universities abroad. Indeed, closer ties with foreign universities will raise UTM’s international profile in line with the government’s aspiration to make Malaysia an international hub of higher education. “In order to be published in refereed journals, you need to collaborate with international peers. With publication comes citation (one of the determinants of how well a university fares in international rankings),” says Zaini.

The outcome of the forum is positive. UTM and its partners can expect enhanced academic and research collaborations. UTM signed two memoranda of understanding with DTU and Universitas Indonesia and have began early talks about future staff and student exchanges with the rest. “The agreement with DTU, for example, stipulates that it will work only with UTM in this region.” With UTM located near EduCity in Nusajaya, Johor’s next administrative centre, it is likely that more universities will choose to work exclusively with it. Zaini extended an invitation to its partner universities to participate in what he terms as the Iskandar Research and Academic Partnership which may fall under the Iskandar Malaysia-UTM Research Centre (IMREC) initiative. A partnership between UTM and Iskandar Regional Development Authority, IMREC will oversee research and creative activities in areas such as the environment, water management, energy development and nanotechnology being spearheaded in the southern economic region known as Nusajaya. One of the signature developments in Nusajaya is the EduCity, an integrated educational hub which will house offshore faculties or campus of world-class universities such as Newcastle University of Medicine (one of UTM’s existing partner universities) and University of Southampton Malaysia.

“We are happy that Newcastle University will be our closest neighbour after Singapore’s National University and Nanyang Technological University. Perhaps this will facilitate even closer ties between these universities in the future,” says Zaini.

Source: NST Online